Family Matters
by Ilyssa
Summary: Abby has a 16-year-old (half) sister, Samantha. The result of one of Maggie's one night stands during a manic period, Samantha moved in with Abby to escape her unpredictable mother. It's a Carby, but that won't be the focus. Please R and R!!
1. Chapter 1

This story involves my creation: Samantha Wyczenski. She's Abby's 16-year- old (half) sister.the result of a manic Maggie's one night stand. She came to live with Abby a few years ago because she couldn't take living with a bi-polar mother anymore. Carter and Abby aren't living together, but Carter sleeps at Abby's frequently. I can't really explain.just please read and review (if you keep reviewing, I'll keep writing, I promise!) Constructive feedback welcome, but please no flames. I hope you enjoy!  
  
"Abby, phone call on line three.it's your sister," Kerry said over her shoulder.  
  
"Thanks, I'll get it in the lounge."  
  
Abby walked into the lounge. She had just gotten back from her break and had a cup of coffee in her hands.  
  
She picked up the receiver. "Hey, what's up?"  
  
"Ok, well before you say no, hear me out."  
  
"Uh-oh. Just tell me."  
  
"Brian is having a late-night study group at his house tonight for our history final. He said he would pick me up, but being that he lives 15 minutes away and all and it might go kinda late.do you think I could just crash there tonight so that he doesn't have to make another trip. Please?"  
  
"Crash there? Are his parents going to be home?"  
  
"Not exactly.but they said it's okay."  
  
"Nice try, no way," answered Abby as Carter walked into the lounge.  
  
Samantha pleaded, "Come on. Don't you want me to pass history? We're just going to be studying."  
  
"Yeah he'll be studying you all right. You can go, but I'm going to pick you up on my way home from work."  
  
"Come on, I'm going to look like such a loser."  
  
"Yeah I know. That's the fun in it. I'll see you a little after 12. Have fun studying!"  
  
"Great. See ya." Samantha hung up the phone.  
  
"What was that all about?" Carter asked.  
  
"Sam wants to study with her boyfriend, you know the kind of studying that requires sleeping over without parental supervision."  
  
"I like that kind of studying," John said as he leaned in and began to kiss Abby's neck.  
  
Later that night.  
  
Abby stopped outside of Brian's house and honked the horn. She waited a couple minutes and honked it again. The door flew open and Samantha appeared, she turned around, kissed Brian on the cheek, and ran towards the car. She opened the door, threw her books on the floor, and sat down silently.  
  
"Get a lot of studying done?" Abby asked.  
  
"Oh yea tons." Sam replied harshly.  
  
"Will you please cut the sarcasm? I'm doing you a favor by picking you up. You should say thank you."  
  
"Oh yes, thank you Abby for not trusting me."  
  
"You think if I didn't trust you I would have let you come here, at night, without any adult supervision? You could have done anything you wanted in the last three hours.and yet I still let you come. I trust you, I just don't trust him. I know what teenage boys want, especially with pretty girls.especially horny teenage boys at home, alone, in the middle of the night with girls. I care about you."  
  
"Like you're one to talk, you and Carter are always doing 'whatever you want.' "  
  
Abby sighed, "But you know what? We're adults.you're sixteen.end of story."  
  
"I don't want to talk about this anymore."  
  
"Fine," answered Abby. 


	2. Chapter 2

Wow---sorry about the massive amount of time between updates. Life has just been kind of hectic. I hope you all understand. I'm wrote you a long chapter to make up for it! Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. I know that in the first chapter there's a bunch of periods in the middle of sentences. That is because I have a habit of using "dot, dot, dot" and I always forget that fanfiction.net doesn't like them. I'm going to make sure to use dashes instead of dots to feed my addiction and if anyone really has a major problem with the first chapter, I'll go back and fix it! This chapter is still going to be kind of boring. I just want you to get the feel for Samantha and her relationship with Abby, Carter, etc. Just to remind you, this is before any of the marriage stuff came into play with A & J. Read, review, and, most importantly, enjoy! (PS- I'm looking for someone to proofread future chapters---if you're interested please email me at JanisRosen@msn.com. Thanks!)  
  
THE NEXT MORNING  
  
"Sam! Hurry up! We're both going to be late!" Abby screamed as she searched frantically for her keys. This was a typical morning at the apartment. If the girls had inherited one thing from their mother, it was her knack for never being on time.  
  
"What did you say?" Samantha said as she stepped out of the bathroom, her long dark brown hair straightened to perfection.  
  
"Grab your stuff, we've got to get going, if we're---have you seen my keys anywhere?" Abby went over to the couch and turned over a pile of clean laundry.  
  
"Did you check your coat pocket?"  
  
Abby picked up her jacket, which was hanging over a chair, and reached into the breast pocket, "I knew there was a reason you were here. Okay, plan of action: I'm going to drop you off at school and then jump on the El. I'll pick you up after swim team, unless I don't get out on time, then John will."  
  
"Actually, Brian is picking me up for school. We were going to go over some facts for the final in the car. I'll see you after practice though."  
  
"Would you have minded sharing this information with me before I had a panic attack?"  
  
Sam shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry---things were sort of hectic, slipped my mind."  
  
"Fine, for once I might be on time for my shift. Here, take a poptart, I'll walk you down."  
  
Abby threw Samantha a poptart. Samantha tossed it back. "Those are disgusting. I'll grab something in the cafeteria before first period"  
  
Abby put the poptart on the counter, "Cause I'm sure that's so much better."  
  
The two walked out of the apartment and slammed the door behind. When they got outside, Abby headed for the El and Sam waited for her ride.  
  
LATER THAT DAY  
  
Samantha stood in front of the mirror putting her wet hair into a messy bun. The rest of the girls from her team were gathering their belongings from around the locker room and getting ready to head home.  
  
"Hey Sam, need a ride?" asked Kelly Gannon, the best swimmer on the team and one of Samantha's best friends.  
  
"Nah, my sister's picking me up. Thanks though."  
  
"When are you getting your license anyway?"  
  
"When Abby gets a car I can use. She's afraid I'll do a number on hers."  
  
"You should just make that rich boyfriend of hers buy you a BMW."  
  
"Yeah that's definitely the solution," laughed Sam.  
  
"Whatever, it's better anyway. At least you have an excuse to drive around with Brian," Kelly joked.  
  
"Let's get going," Sam said as she grabbed her backpack, "I'll walk you to your car."  
  
Outside Samantha said goodbye to Kelly and looked around for Abby or Carter's car. With no luck, she sat down on the curb and pulled her cell phone out of her bag. Just then a car pulled up in front of her. The window rolled down and Sam recognized Susan Lewis.  
  
"Hey," Sam said as she opened the passenger door and jumped into the car, "what are you doing here?"  
  
"Ugh, major trauma at the hospital. Everyone got called in. Your sister and Carter couldn't leave but I managed to sneak out to pick you up."  
  
"Thanks. But you know, someone could have just left me a message. I could have gotten a ride with Kelly or someone else. Cause you know ALL of my friends drive except me."  
  
"Yeah I know, don't worry. Abby's stubborn but she's bound to cave eventually- maybe even by the time you're in your thirties."  
  
"Thanks Susan, I feel SO much better now."  
  
Susan interrogated Samantha all the way home about Brian, school, and everything else important to a sixteen year old and left her in front of the apartment building with "call every once in a while, don't be a stranger". Samantha always liked Susan. She was real- she always said what was on her mind. Her temperament was much more even than Abby's and Samantha could tell her things that were going on in her life without her going through the checklist of symptoms for bipolar disorder in her head.  
  
Samantha opened the apartment door and pressed the button on the answering machine. There was a message from Eric and one from Brian. She picked up the phone and dialed Eric's number. She worried about him. Since he got sick it was almost as though he was the younger sibling and she was the older. After he got discharged from the military, he managed to get an apartment about two hours away from them. He had been taking his medications and going to therapy and even was holding down a job as a mechanic for an airline, but all that could change in a split second. Samantha knew the routine well; she had lived with it her entire life. Only with Eric it was different- she had known Eric when he was healthy, when he was really her big brother. She loved him so much. That's not to say she didn't love her mother, because she really did. It's just that she had known him before the disease and she remembered him separate from it. Abby felt the same way. When Eric wasn't healthy, Abby wasn't herself. She was depressed and distant and she snapped at anything. Abby had been through so much this year and Samantha was so afraid that if anything else happened she would go back to her old ways, she would go back to drinking.  
  
Eric answered the phone on the third ring, "Hello?"  
  
"Hey you, what's going on?" Sam said, in the least-concerned voiced she could manage.  
  
"Nothing much. Nothing much. How bout with you? How's school? How's swimming?"  
  
"You know, the usual. Same old stuff---I got your message. I know you were probably looking for Abby. She's at work. Apparently the ER is crazy today. Just thought I'd call you back and see if anything was, well, wrong."  
  
"No, no, nothing like that. I just wanted to let you guys know that I got a message from Maggie, I mean mom. She's coming to visit me. She sounds really good, Sam. I was thinking maybe we could do dinner or something, like a real family. It might be nice."  
  
Relieved Sam answered, "Yeah sure that sounds great. Sorry for jumping to conclusions Er. I just care about you. You should call more often. I miss you."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Sorry if I sounded annoyed. I'm just tired of people asking me how I am, tired of getting treated like a freak. I'm doing really good, really."  
  
"That's really good to hear. Hey um Eric---"  
  
"---Yeah?"  
  
"How do you feel about taking me out driving?"  
  
"I'd love to."  
  
"Great! When's mom coming in again?"  
  
"Sometime next week."  
  
"Okay, I'll let Abby know and I'll have her call you to work out the specifics. Just don't tell her you're going to drive with me, you know how she's being about that."  
  
"Oh a conspiracy, how dramatic," Eric joked, "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
Samantha hung up the phone. Eric sounded good, he actually sounded happy. Samantha was thankful. She was really excited to see him, but for some reason she still had butterflies in her stomach. She knew it was because she was worried about seeing Maggie, or rather, mom. Abby always got so upset when she called her Maggie, even though unless it was in conversation with Samantha, Abby rarely referred to her as anything else. Samantha knew Abby didn't want her to be angry at Maggie. Even if Abby had trouble accepting it, she did know that the disease wasn't Maggie's fault. Abby probably felt guilty about the lack of compassion between herself and their mom and she didn't want Sam to grow up and feel the same way. But it didn't matter why Abby was so insistent because Sam didn't have a problem calling Maggie mom. It was much easier for her to refer to Maggie as a mother now than it was years before; it was much easier to think of her as mom when she wasn't around. 


	3. Chapter 3

I'm soo bad with updates. I guess that comes with being a senior in high school with tons of homework and all those applications that really *should* be done by now. I hope anyone that still follows this enjoys this chapter. Please keep up the feedback- you guys are wonderful. :)  
  
A WEEK AND A HALF LATER  
  
"So I guess we're really doing this, dinner with mom?" Abby asked as she took off her scrub top and threw a brown sweater over her tank top.  
  
"Yeah, it's just dinner- - -no biggie, right? We're going to sit. And eat. And talk. Just like a normal family," replied Sam.  
  
Abby chuckled.  
  
"What's so funny? Every family has it's own quirks, we're just a little bit more-eccentric---than most."  
  
"Eccentric, nice word choice." Abby smiled at Sam and tugged at her sister's hair as she reapplied her lip-gloss.  
  
"Want some? Carter's coming right? It's strawberry."  
  
"Yeah we're going to meet at Carter's place---then he'll drive us over. But I think Carter is going to be too intrigued by our Jerry Springer antics to be thinking about anything along those lines, thanks though."  
  
"I try," Samantha grabbed her purse, "Ready?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Yeah, I know, let's go," Samantha said as she pulled Abby out the door.  
  
As Abby was driving, Samantha began, "Hey Abby-"  
  
"Hmmmm?"  
  
"I'm nervous."  
  
"I was just kidding about the Jerry Springer thing before Sam, well sort of anyway. It'll be fine. A little crazy, a little hectic-maybe some fighting, but in the end, we won't be worse off for it."  
  
"I always feel like mom's mad at me."  
  
"Why would you say that?"  
  
"For leaving." "Sam, living with mom wasn't working at all- - -you stuck it out a lot longer than most people could have. Maggie- - -mom is sick and it's not your responsibility to take care of her or make her feel good. You have to take care of you."  
  
"Do you love her?"  
  
"What?" Abby switched off the radio. She was caught off guard.  
  
"Do you love her?"  
  
Abby sighed, "Yes, I love her."  
  
"Because you have to?"  
  
Abby paused for a moment, "Sometimes I think I love her because I have to, but I know that nothing can really force you to love someone. Mom can be a handful, you know this, but she's our mom, and she truly cares about us. It's not her fault that she's sick."  
  
Caught up in her own thoughts and not really listening to Abby's response, Sam continued, "I remember this one time- - -I must have been six or seven, and mom was on her meds. I remember even then, at that age, knowing about her medication and her moods. Anyway, it was raining- - -do you remember how mom always used to love the sound of rain on the roof? She came into my bed and got under the covers with me, and she told me to close my eyes and to listen- - - she told me that there was music in the rain. At first I didn't hear it, but mom just told me to keep my eyes closed and to keep concentrating, and then, I could hear it too. And ever since then, whenever it rains, it always sounds like music to me. I don't know why I remember that night, I think I tried to imprint it on my brain, because as young as I was, I knew that I could never count on having another one of those times with mom. You know?"  
  
"Wow, I haven't thought about that in years. Maggie and I used to get into bed and do the same thing, when she was occasionally stable. Wow. I had totally forgotten about that." How many other good memories had she also blocked out? How many positive things had she erased from her memory? Abby became so caught up in her own thoughts, in her own childhood recollections that she was shocked to realize that they were already in Carter's driveway. She must have driven the rest of the way there in a trance. 


	4. Chapter 4

***I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated...here's the next chapter though. Just to remind you this was pre-Carter's proposal to Abby and therefore before Kem came into the picture. Did you guys know that the writers' originally planned on Abby having a little sister Jessica instead of Eric? Weird, right? Keep the reviews coming- I actually have half of the next chapter done...I know exactly where this story is going and I think you will like it. Enjoy! =)  
  
PS- Does anyone want to proofread my story? Email me if you do! lilshortie86@yahoo.com  
  
"Fifteen minutes into dinner...and so far so good," Samantha thought. They were all seated around the small oval table at Eric's apartment. Maggie had dominated the conversation entirely, scrutinizing Eric's taste in design and offering him suggestions on how to "bring out the color" here or "make it look bigger" there. No one had minded though, not even Eric. This was just about as cordial as you could ask for things with this family to be.  
  
"Eat your potatoes honey, stop playing with them with your fork."  
  
"I'm full, mom," Sam said as she placed the fork on top of the paper napkin that sat next to her plate.  
  
"You barely ate."  
  
"I'm full mom."  
  
"Are you sure? There's some cheesecake in the fridge."  
  
"Mom, I'm really full."  
  
Abby cut in, "she's fine mom, leave her alone."  
  
"You are not her mother Abby. Do you think you are? Well, you're not. I am and I say she is not eating enough. Look at her- skin and bones."  
  
Eric chimed in too, "Mom, enough. If she's not hungry, she's not hungry. Leave her alone. Let's talk about something else."  
  
"No Eric, this is important. Samantha is my daughter. Abby is trying to take that away from me. You can play mom all you want Abby, but don't you forget that you are not her mother."  
  
"Mom, Abby isn't trying to be my mother. I'll eat my potatoes, okay?"  
  
"This isn't about the potatoes Samantha, this is about Abby, trying to be something that she's not," Maggie continued.  
  
"Mom please..." Eric quietly begged.  
  
Samantha sunk back in her chair as Abby yelled, "You know what, maybe if you stayed on your meds and actually pretended to have maternal instincts, I wouldn't be tied down with a sixteen year-old!"  
  
A look of hurt shot across Maggie's face, "I've always done the best I could for all three of you, working long hours wherever I could find work. Do you think it's easy to raise three kids on a department store salary? To keep a roof over your heads and food on the table? I've always done my best!"  
  
"Well your best just isn't good enough!" Abby paused and the room was silent for a moment until she stood up, "I'm done. Carter will you bring us home?"  
  
Carter, who had been almost silent the entire meal, looked apologetically at Maggie and got up, "thanks for dinner."  
  
Abby went into the living room and grabbed the two purses from the sofa, "Are you coming Sam?" Samantha didn't answer and Abby spoke again, "Well?"  
  
Without saying a word, Samantha exchanged a glance with Eric and stood up and took her purse from Abby's arm.  
  
"Come on guys," Eric pleaded even though he knew it was hopeless, "let's just sit down and finish."  
  
"Goodbye Maggie, goodbye Eric, say goodbye to Maggie, Samantha," Abby said as she opened the door.  
  
"Bye mom, I'll call you later Eric." Holding back tears, Samantha walked out with her sister and Carter. She wished she had just eaten her potatoes. 


End file.
